Voice-over-Internet protocol (VOIP) telephony systems deal with the transmission of voice-band calls over a packet data network, such as a corporate intranet or the Internet. Using current VOIP systems to make long distance calls offers a number of interesting advantages when compared to traditional long distance telephone service. Some of these advantages include, for example, the ability to place long distance calls as two local voice band calls using an IP data link between them, one local call at the calling number end and one at the destination number end; and being able to manage a voice and data network as a single network. Likewise, additional advantages include moving, adding and changing Internet Protocol (IP) phones is easier and cheaper than regular telephones; providing new and integrated services including integrated messaging, bandwidth on demand, voice e-mails, “voice portals” that provide interactive voice response access to systems such as the Internet; and simplified setting up, tearing down and transferring of phone calls.
Unfortunately, current VOIP systems have some significant disadvantages as well, including no single-stage dialing as on a circuit-switched Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN); only two- or three-stage dialing capabilities; and no integrated billing system that can detect and track network use and associate the use with a number for billing purposes. “Single-stage” dialing, which is also known as direct-dialing, permits a caller to dial the desired destination number, the telephone network automatically recognizes the telephone number from which the caller initiated the call, the telephone network automatically determines which calling plan(s) the caller has been registered and routes the call based on the caller's calling plan(s).
“Two-stage” or “three-stage” dialing both require the caller to first call an IP network access number, which can be either a local or a national number, and either a toll-free or a toll number. Next, for two-stage dialing, the system at the access number either automatically detects and recognizes the caller's number or the caller's phone service is programmed to automatically send the caller's account number and PIN when the caller dials the access number; the system then connects the caller to the system and the caller enters the desired destination number. Alternatively, for three-stage dialing, after the system at the access number answers, the caller is usually prompted to enter the caller's account number and PIN and, then, the caller enters the desired destination number.
An example of both a two-stage and a three-stage dialing, prepaid VOIP calling plan is AT&T's Connect 'N Save® service. In this two-stage dialing service, the customer enrolls in the service, prepays a set amount using a credit/debit card or a check, and signs up for the Express Login feature at the customer's registered telephone number. The Express Login feature only operates from the customer's telephone number and automatically identifies the customer's account number and PIN when the customer calls the access number from the customer's registered telephone number. After connecting to the service, the customer dials the desired destination number and waits for the call to connect with the destination number. The Connect 'N Save® service has both local and national access numbers that can be used to access the service. An example of three-stage dialing occurs in the Connect 'N Save® service if the customer either did not sign up for the Express Login feature or is calling an access number from a telephone number other than the one that was used to sign up for the Connect 'N Save® service. In this case, the customer first dials the access number; second, enters the customer's account number and PIN; and third, dials the desired destination number.
FIG. 1, depicts a block diagram implementation of current two-stage and three-stage voice-over-Internet protocol (VOIP) services. In FIG. 1, customer (calling party) telephones 115 and 116 are connected to a local access provider network 118, which is in turn connected to a circuit-switched, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) 145 and to an IP gateway 120, which is communicatively linked to an IP Network 110. The IP gateway 120 provides both local and toll free number VOIP access to the IP Network 110, however, single telephones are shown accessing the IP gateway 120 for each of the local and toll free VOIP access numbers in FIG. 2 for reasons of clarity. The IP Network 110 is communicatively linked with another IP gateway 125, which provides VOIP service to U.S. locations, and the IP gateway 125 is communicatively linked to a destination telephone 135 through a destination local access provider network (not shown). Similarly, the IP Network 110 is communicatively linked with another IP gateway 130, which provides VOIP service to international locations, and the IP gateway 130 is communicatively linked to a destination telephone 136 through another destination local access provider network (not shown). The IP Network 110 is communicatively linked with another IP gateway 140, which is communicatively linked to a second circuit-switched PSTN 145. When a calling party places a call to a destination telephone number that is not served by any of the VOIP service IP gateways 125 and 130, the call is routed through the IP gateway 140 to the second PSTN 145 for completion as a circuit-switched telephone call.
In FIG. 1, when a caller desires to place a VOIP call the caller first calls one of the access numbers at the IP gateway 120 from one of the telephones 115 and 116. These access numbers can be either a local or a national numbers, and either a toll-free or a toll number. Next, for two-stage dialing, the system at the IP gateway 120 either automatically detects and recognizes the caller's number or the caller's phone service can be programmed to automatically send the caller's account number and PIN when the caller dials the access number, connects the caller to the system and the caller enters the desired destination number. Alternatively, for three-stage dialing, after the system at the IP gateway 120 answers, the caller is usually prompted to enter the caller's account number and PIN or credit/calling/debit card number and PIN and, then, the caller enters the desired destination telephone number. Upon receiving the destination telephone number, the IP gateway 120 determines an appropriate destination IP gateway, for example, destination IP gateway 125, converts the call into packets and then routes the packets to the destination IP gateway 125 through the IP Network 110. The IP network 110 is configured to receive the packets and then route the packets to the destination IP gateway 125 through the destination local access provider network (not shown). The destination IP gateway 125 receives the packets, reassembles the packets, converts the packets back to a voice-band call and sends the reassembled voice-band call to the destination telephone number 135 through the other destination local access provider network (not shown).
Unfortunately, the currently-available two-stage and three-stage VOIP services require the entry of multiple phone, account and PIN numbers to use the service, which is inefficient and unpleasant for customers. Another disadvantage of some currently-available two- and three-stage VOIP services is that they require either the purchase of new prepaid calling cards or the replenishment of minimum prepaid account balances because the calling party's regular telephone service billing system is not connected to and does not communicate with the VOIP service.
Accordingly, a single-stage VOIP system is desired that enables the user to directly dial a destination number from a telephone attached to the circuit-switched PSTN, where the call is automatically routed as a VOIP call over the IP network and billed to the calling party's regular telephone-bill account. Likewise, a provisioning system is desired that receives customer orders for the VOIP service, provisions the network and billing systems based on the orders and maintains the operational and informational synchronization between the network and billing systems.